RICKY DIMON’S TENNIS PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR THE MONTREAL QUARTERFINALS

Written by: Staff on 13th August 2015

RICKY DIMON'S TENNIS PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR THE MONTREAL QUARTERFINALS |

The Rogers Cup quarterfinal lineup features a nice mix of old reliables and surprises. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Kei Nishikori are still alive. Ernests Gulbis and Jeremy Chardy are the last two men standing without a seeded distinction. Rounding things out are John Isner and defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

(7) Rafael Nadal vs. (4) Kei Nishikori

Nishikori and Nadal will be going head-to-head for the eighth time in their careers on Friday. Nadal has won all seven of their previous encounters, but things have become more competitive since the Spaniard took 12 of their first 13 sets without requiring a single tiebreaker. Nishikori went down 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-6(3) at the 2014 Australian Open and was dominating Nadal on clay in the Madrid final later that season before being forced to retire because of injury.

“Casino Nadal. #couperogers #casinoroyal #Nadal #mtlblog #montreal #tennis #atp” – Photo by dkgphoto via Instagram.

Physical problems finally appear to be thing of the past for Nishikori and that has coincided with a rise to the top of the game–or at least close to it. The world No. 4 finished runner-up at the U.S. Open last summer and he is an awesome 45-9 for this season. Coming off a title last weekend in Washington, D.C., Nishikori has coasted past Pablo Andujar and David Goffin so far in Montreal. Needing a strong performance to a much greater extent than his opponent, Nadal earned his place in the last eight by defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky and Mikhail Youzhny.

Pick: Nishikori in 3

(10) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (2) Andy Murray

There’s something about the Rogers Cup that brings out the best in Tsonga and it does not matter whether it’s in Montreal or Toronto nor how he is playing going into the tournament. The Frenchman rolled all the way to last year’s title in Toronto as the No. 13 seed and now he is back in the quarterfinals in Montreal as the 10th seed (he is ranked 24th, but the 2014 champion’s points were still on the board when this draw was made). Tsonga punched his ticket to Friday by getting the best of Borna Coric, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Bernard Tomic.

Next up for Tsonga is Murray, who is dominating the head-to-head series 11-2. The third-ranked Scot was actually one of Tsonga’s victims–along with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer–at last season’s Rogers Cup, but Murray has since won twice in a row. He prevailed in straight sets a few weeks later at the U.S. Open and again in straights earlier this summer during a Davis Cup battle on the grass courts of Queen’s Club.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (Q) Ernests Gulbis

Djokovic and Gulbis will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers. Gulbis’ spot in the last eight, of course, has come entirely out of nowhere. The 87th-ranked Latvian had been a horrendous 5-17 at the ATP level this year prior to arriving in Montreal. In fact, he had done almost nothing since his most recent loss to Djokovic in the 2014 French Open semifinals. That’s when the Serb extended his head-to-head series lead to 5-1 (it’s 3-1 on hard courts).

Suddenly, though, Gulbis is finding the game that once took him to 10th in the rankings. After winning a pair of matches to qualify for the main draw, he beat Dominic Thiem, Lukas Rosol, and Donald Young. Djokovic followed up a first-round bye with straight-set victories over Thomaz Bellucci and Jack Sock. The top-ranked Serb looked especially impressive against Sock, cruising 6-2, 6-1 in 54 minutes.

Pick: Djokovic in 2

(16) John Isner vs. Jeremy Chardy

Chardy could have not have asked for a better draw through three rounds of a Masters 1000 event. He opened with fellow Frenchman and lucky loser Nicolas Mahut, faced unseeded Leonardo Mayer in round two, and went up against unseeded Ivo Karlovic on Thursday. Those are no gimmes, but Chardy would always take that at such a prestigious tournament.

“#JohnIsner defeats #Kyrgios in #Montreal #CoupeRogers #TennisCanada #Masters1000 #AtpWorldTour #UsOpenSeries” – Photo by @tennisinfobr via Instagram.

Now the world No. 49 will face Isner, who snagged the 16th and final seed thanks in part to the absences of Roger Federer and David Ferrer. In this kind of form, however, Isner is a brutal draw wherever he comes in an event. The 6’10” American is 11-1 during the hard-court summer with a title in Atlanta and a runner-up finish in Washington, D.C. So far in Montreal he has taken out Benjamin Becker, Vasek Pospisil, and Nick Kyrgios. Chardy leads the head-to-head series 3-0, but only one meeting has come on a North American hard court (Cincinnati) and that was six years ago and it ended in Isner retirement.

Pick: Isner in 2

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp World Tour, Montreal, Ricky Dimon, Rogers Cup, Sports, Tennis

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10sBalls_com says:

August 13, 2015 at 11:49 pm

-@Dimonator’s #TENNIS PREVIEW AND PICKS FOR THE #Montreal QUARTERFINALS- http://t.co/vkyAaSIh5X @rogerscup #atpmontreal #RogersCup